A Clean Air Task Force analysis outlines how Executive Order 14300 restructures NRC licensing timelines and fees, changes that expand the economic headroom available to advanced nuclear developers...
Nucleation Capital is proud to backAalo Atomics once again, participating in their$100 million Series B round. This marks our second investment in Aalo, following our participation in their Series A in Q3 2024 and now again in Q3 2025.
The Series B was led by Valor Equity Partners, with participation from new and existing investors including Nucleation Capital, Fine Structure Ventures, Hitachi Ventures, NRG Energy, and others.
Nucleation is honored to be able to continue supporting Aalo as they accelerate towards commercialization as part of the DOE’s pilot licensing program. And we’re pleased to be able to provide moreaccredited investors access to exciting ventures innovating the future of energy like Aalo. If you wish to participate in Aalo, you may still do so with a subscription to Nucleation’s Fund I starting in Q3-2025. Learn more here.
The Trump administration issued four executive orders today aimed at boosting domestic nuclear deployment ahead of significant growth in projected energy demand in the coming decades. During a live signing in the Oval Office, President Donald Trump called nuclear “a hot industry,” and “a brilliant industry. . . . It’s become very safe and environmental.” These orders were designed to enhance America's energy security and support the growing demand for reliable power sources, particularly in AI and defense sectors.
Germany has dropped its long-held opposition to nuclear power, in the first concrete sign of rapprochement with France by Berlin’s new government led by conservative Chancellor Friedrich Merz. Berlin has signalled to Paris it will no longer block French efforts to ensure nuclear power is treated on par with renewable energy in EU legislation, according to French and German officials.
Belgium officially abandoned plans to phase out nuclear power, with its parliament voting to scrap a two-decade-old pledge, allowing for the construction of new reactors. Lawmakers in Brussels backed the new conservative-led government's plan to revive the country's nuclear industry with 102 votes in favor, eight against and 31 abstentions.
GE Vernova Hitachi Nuclear Energy (GVH) announced today approval from the Province of Ontario and Ontario Power Generation (OPG) to proceed with deployment of the first small modular reactor (SMR) in the Western world at the Darlington nuclear site in Ontario, Canada. This milestone marks a significant step forward in advancing nuclear innovation and reinforces GVH’s leadership position in scaling SMRs commercially.
Amazon has announced a signed agreement with Dominion Energy in Virginia to explore the development and construction of one or more small modular nuclear reactors to use to provide clean power to Amazon Web Services data centers. It is anticipated that Dominion will contract with X-energy to host X-energy's new high-temperature gas reactor at Dominion’s North Anna nuclear power station. This is intended to increase access to clean power for AWS, Amazon’s cloud computing subsidiary, which has escalating energy needs as it expands its services into generative AI. The agreement is also a part of Amazon’s path to net-zero carbon emissions.
Amazon Web Services has agreed to invest more than $500 million into advanced nuclear power, through three related projects, that will result in as much as 600 MW of new power generation at locations from Virginia to Washington state. In the process, Amazon is partnering with Dominion Energy, Energy Northwest and X-Energy to explore the development of an X-energy small modular nuclear reactor, or SMR, near Dominion’s existing North Anna nuclear power station.
Amazon, together with Energy Northwest, a consortium of 29 public utility districts and municipalities across Washington, will help fund the deployment of four reactors developed by X-energy totalling approximately 320 MW of new electricity generation. Additionally, Amazon also is making an equity investment into X-energy as part of an approximately $500 million fundraising round announced today by the nuclear technology company and they've signed a separate memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Dominion Energy “to explore innovative new development structures that would help advance potential [SMR] nuclear development in Virginia.”
Google's agreement to purchase energy from advanced nuclear reactors to be built by Kairos Power was, in almost every way, earth-shattering. This deal puts advanced nuclear on the energy "leaderboard" for the first time and sends an exceptionally powerful message out into the world—that the tech hyperscalers, a group of extremely sophisticated companies committed to decarbonization—are ready to commit large sums to obtain clean and reliable power from advanced nuclear energy providers. This will inform a whole host of other actors and force them to re-assess their energy options.
To better understand Google's reasoning for this agreement, we turn to the blog post written by Michael Terrell, Googles' Senior Director for Energy and Climate. He confirms right away, that Google's decision to sign the "world's first corporate agreement to purchase nuclear energy from multiple small modular reactors" is intended to "accelerate the clean energy transition across the U.S."
Google is building upon a history of pioneering corporate efforts to accelerate clean energy solutions, which started with agreements to purchase renewable electricity over a decade ago. Those purchase agreements have enabled Google to make claims of powering their operations with "renewable" energy but the reality is that for the last decade, Google's power was pulled from the grid like everyone else's and they could not access carbon-free power on a 24/7 basis. This disturbed them, because they knew that their claims were premised on fancy accounting, not reality, and due to the fungibility of electrons, their actual energy streams remained as dirty as eveyone else's.
Google now takes its first true step into truly managing its carbon emissions with this agreement to support Kairos Power's introduction of its advanced nuclear power system. This is a long-term agreement that enables Kairos to target building multiple initial units by 2030, followed by additional units by 2035. The agreement will enable the construction of up to 500 MW of 24/7 carbon-free power to a number of communities, which indicates that Google is probably planning to site these new reactors in more than one location, possibly co-located with newly-built data centers being planned to meet growing power demands from AI.
Terrell believes that this agreement, to put Google's purchasing heft in accelerating deployments of the next generation of advanced clean technologies, is important for two reasons:
The grid needs new electricity sources to support AI technologies that are powering major scientific advances, improving services for businesses and customers, and driving national competitiveness and economic growth. This agreement helps accelerate a new technology to meet energy needs cleanly and reliably, and unlock the full potential of AI for everyone.
Nuclear solutions offer a clean, round-the-clock power source that can help us reliably meet electricity demands with carbon-free energy every hour of every day. Advancing these power sources in close partnership with supportive local communities will rapidly drive the decarbonization of electricity grids around the world.
In other words, there is growing 24/7 energy demand and growing urgency to eliminate emissions and renewables are not up to the job. Terrell doesn't say that directly but it seems fairly clear that they recognize that they cannot run a rapidly growing 24/7 data center business with intermittent energy sources, even with fancy accounting.
While we don't get a lot of the financial details of this new agreement, whether they will be investing in Kairos or just helping to finance Kairos' journey through their first of a kind (F.O.A.K) build and out into their "nth of a kind" (N.O.A.K) build, Google's alignment of it efforts to develop and commercializeadvanced clean electricity technologies behind Kairos is a formidable combination that promises to help Kairos overcome the remaining barriers for commercialization of its technology.
(From the DOE's Advanced Nuclear LiftOff Report.)
Google's deal with Kairos provides what many experts and the DOE see as a necessary ingredient to break the chicken and egg conundrum: an “orderbook” of reactors. This speeds up Kairos' ability to produce its novel reactors in the quantity necessary to lower costs and bring Kairos Power’s technology to market more quickly. Without out, FOAK pricing can be prohibitive to getting orders. Google, with virtually no other options, has bravely stepped to help scale what is likely to be the first of many advanced nuclear technologies coming to market.
This announcement further inflects the advanced nuclear sector and confirms what we have known all along: both traditional and next-generation nuclear technologies are necessary for us to reach 100% clean power and we'll need a very large and very diverse quantity of new reactors being produced and deployed at scale to fully meet all types of growing energy needs and to shift all demand from fossil fuels to clean energy sources.
The Atomic Energy Advancement Act, which aims to accelerate the deployment of nuclear energy technologies, such as advanced nuclear reactors, was passed by the otherwise highly polarized House of Representatives by the overwhelmingly bipartisan vote of 365 to 36. The bill directs the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) "To advance the benefits of nuclear energy by enabling efficient, timely, and predictable licensing, regulation, and deployment of nuclear energy technologies."
In particular, the Atomic Energy Advancement Act (HR 6544) gives the Nuclear Regulatory Commission one year to update the mission statement of the Commission to specifically ensure that the licensing and regulation of nuclear energy activities be conducted in a manner that "does not unnecessarily limit: (A) the potential of nuclear energy to improve the general welfare; and (B) the benefits of nuclear energy technology to society. This is a welcomed shift, as previously, the NRC acted as though their only mandate was "zero accidents." When that translates to zero licensed reactors, that makes us all far less safe because the alternative is the use of deadly fossil fuels. The NRC must now balance these clear priorities!
Representative Jeff Duncan of South Carolina applauded the passage of the HR 6544 saying: “The Atomic Energy Advancement Act restores American leadership in nuclear energy and technology which is critical to our economic and national security. I’m proud to lead the most significant update to nuclear energy policy in the United States in over a generation.”
Rep. Diana DeGette, a Democrat from Colorado, who co-led the bill with Rep. Jeff Duncan (R-S.C.), released the following statement celebrating its passage: “Tackling the climate crisis means we must modernize our approach to all clean energy sources, including nuclear. From enhancing our energy supply chain to recruiting a highly trained and skilled workforce, this bill makes critical updates to improve safety and ensure our nuclear regulations are up-to-date, pushing us closer to a carbon-free energy future.”
“Nuclear energy is not a silver bullet, but if we’re going to get to net zero carbon emissions by 2050, it must be part of the mix,” DeGette continued. “As this bill heads to the Senate, I look forward to continuing to work with my colleagues in the House and Senate to find bipartisan solutions to address our clean energy needs.”
This House bill must now be reconciled with the Senate’s ADVANCE Act (S.1111), which passed in 2023 and was very similar. Once they are reconciled and passed again, the bill can be signed by President Biden.
The ADVANCE Act, included in the 2024 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) by the Senate, was passed by the Senate in an 86-11 bipartisan vote. The NDAA now must be reconciled with the version narrowly passed by the House on July 14th, which contains several controversial GOP amendments. Previously, the ADVANCE Act was approved by a bipartisan 16-3 vote of the Environment and Public Works Committee in May.
Senators Shelley Moore Capito (R., W.Va.), Tom Carper (D., Del.), and Sheldon Whitehouse (D., R.I.) were the bipartisan group of sponsors who introduced the Accelerating Deployment of Versatile, Advanced Nuclear for Clean Energy (ADVANCE) Act back in April of this year. Its purpose is to support the preservation, development, and deployment of nuclear energy technologies in the United States.
The legislation was widely welcomed by experts, including the respected Clean Air Task Force, as an effort to strengthen the U.S. nuclear energy sector by creating a supportive policy environment where nuclear energy can expedite the clean energy transition and promote global energy security.
Included in the bill are much needed measures that enhance processes at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, especially the review and approvals of next-gen nuclear reactors, improve the prospects for coal to nuclear projects, and streamline civil nuclear exports, all which will help manage climate change and provide reliable, 24/7, carbon-free energy.
In the words of Shelley Moore Capito, the passage of the ADVANCE Act brings us "one step closer to reestablishing America's preeminence as the global leader in nuclear energy in the 21st century. Not only does our legislation strengthen our national and energy security, it expands a clean, reliable power source that should remain a major part of our future energy mix. The ADVANCE Act achieves these shared goals by making the nuclear licensing process more affordable, predictable, and efficient; creating pathways to repurpose former industrial sites for nuclear reactors in the future; and providing the Nuclear Regulatory Commission the resources needed to help fulfill its mission."
“The complexity of achieving economy-wide decarbonization requires a diverse set of solutions, and nuclear energy has an important role to play,” said Evan Chapman, U.S. Federal Policy Director at Clean Air Task Force. “The bipartisan ADVANCE Act would build on action taken through the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and the Inflation Reduction Act to preserve and expand the United States’ nuclear energy capacity. Doing so would help meet growing energy demand while moving the U.S. closer to achieving its climate goals. It’s an exciting step forward and we stand ready to work with Congress to make this legislation as strong as possible.”
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